In recent years, there has been known power control apparatuses such as power conditioners (inverters) that connect a plurality of solar cell strings together and control power generated by the plurality of solar cell strings. The power conditioners which have conventionally and popularly been used are of a single-type (or a centralized-type) that aggregate wiring of a plurality of solar cell strings in a connection box and control power output from the connection box. However, power conditioners employing a multistring scheme that allows direct connection of a plurality of solar cell strings together have recently been more popularly used.
The power conditioners employing the multistring scheme includes DC/DC converters having a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) function. Such a DC/DC converter, while adjusting respective voltages of the solar cell strings, controls respective operation points for producing maximum power. In this way, the power conditioner employing the multistring scheme may maximize respective power generation amounts of the respective solar cell strings.